Karen Elson: The Ghost Who Walks

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Karen Elson's debut certainly doesn't fight shy of inviting cynicism. She is a supermodel turned musician. Her band includes husband Jack White (producing and on drums), members of My Morning Jacket and the Dead Weather, and even Jackson – son of Patti and Fred "Sonic" – Smith on guitar. The sleeve features them posing painstakingly in retro outfits with vintage musical equipment. On songs such as the Nancy Sinatraesque title track, the music is similarly overstylised. Oldham-born Elson sounds more at ease with country blues and murder ballads, bringing a convincing, Loretta Lynn-type lonesome quality to the lovely Lunasa and The Last Laugh. But Stolen Roses owes much to Nick Cave's Where the Wild Roses Grow, Garden struggles with classic rock and there's far too imagery of circling birds and plunging knives. She sounds in awe of American gothic, but otherwise we learn little of how it feels to be a girl from Oldham catapulted into what must be a very surreal life.